Machine



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A. E. SANBORN & 0. L. MERROW.

KNITTING MACHINE.

Patented Sept. 17, 18819;

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A. E. SANBORN & 0. L. MERROW'. KNITTING MACHINE.

No. 411.303. Patented Sept. 17, 1889.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3. A. E. SANBORN & 0.. L. MERROW.

KNITTING MAGHINE.

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ALBERT E. SANBORN AND OSCAR L. MERROW, OF LAOONIA, NE\V HAMPSHIRE,ASSIGNORS OF ONE-HALF TO DENNIS OSHEA AND JOHN OSHEA, JR, OF

SAME PLACE.

KNITTING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 411,303, datedSeptember 17, 1889.

Application filed August 20, 1888.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ALBERT E. SANBORN and OSCAR L. MERROW, both ofLaconia, in the county of Belknap and State of New Hampshire, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Knitting-Machin es, ofwhich the following is a specification.

It is the obj eet or purpose of our invention to provide suchimprovements in knittingmaehines as will enable the operator to per formtuck-work on the cylinder-needles (in case the invention is applied tocircular machines) in any desired order or pattern and to automaticallychange from tuck to plain work, and to do these things with mechanism ofminimum simplicity.

Our invention consists of the improvements hereinafter fully describedand claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and theletters of reference marked thereon, forming a part of thisspecification, of which drawings- Figure l is a front elevation of acircular rib-knitting machine of the kind commonly known among knittingartisans as a Pepper machine, equipped with my improvements. Fig. 3 is aside elevation, part being broken away. Fig. 4 is a detail sectionalView taken on a line running through the vertically-movable stitch-cam.Fig. 4* represents the positions of the ordinary fixed cam c and one ofthe needles resting on said cam on the opposite side of the cylinderfrom the parts shown in Fig. 4:. Fig. 5 is a detail view of thevertieally-movable stitch-cam, looking from the interior of the cylinderoutward.

Similar letters of reference designate similar parts in all of theviews.

Although our invention is here shown applied to a machine employing bothcylinder and dial needles, so as to be capable of performingrib=knitting, the use of dial-needles is not in any way essential to thepractice of the invention, since our improvements may just as well beemployed on a machine organized to produce work on the cylinder-needlesalone.

' In the drawings, A designates the needlecylinder; B, the rotarycam-cylinder; C, the

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same- Serial No. 283,212. (No model.)

needle-dial; D, the rotary cam-dial; E, the yoke for supporting theneedle-dial and connecting the cam-cylinder with the cam-dial,

ated in unison. The several parts mentioned are of usual construction,arrangement, and function.

For the sake of elearness of illustration we have omitted to representany needles in Figs. 2 and 3 and a sufficient number only in theremaining figures to explain the nature and use of our improvements.

The machine shown is equipped with two yarn-feeds 2 and 3, it beingunderstood that a stitch or knitting cam or set of cams eo-opera-te witheach yarn-feed.

In carrying out our invention we fit out the needle-cylinder with twosets or series of needles, one set or series a, having short latches,and another set or series Z), having considerably longer latches, asshown in Fig. 5. The long-latch needles I) are arranged to knit at thepoints where it is desired to produce tuckstitehes in the tubular web.

It is now to be understood that the knitting or stitch cams at theyarn-feed 3 are of such a character as to raise both series of needlessufficientlyhigh to carry the loopsof yarn in their hooks below theopened latches, so that when yarn for new loops is fed to the needlesand the latter are drawn down the old loops below the latches will becast off and plain knitting will be performed. At the yarn-feed 2,however, the needle-raising cam 0 will, in what we term its normalposition, (which is understood to be its lowest position,) raise theneedles a and b sufficiently high to carry the loops in the hooks of theneedles at below their opened latches, but not sufficiently high toeffect this result on the needles 1). Consequently when yarn for newloops is laid into the needles by yarn-feed 2 and said needles aredepressed the old loop 011 the needles a will be cast off, while theneedles I) will hold two loops (the old and the new) in their hooksuntil knitting at the yarnfeed 3 is effected, when both series ofneedles will take new loops and cast off their old loops, as beforeexplained. It knitting should proceed under these circumstances, it willbe so that the two latter elements may be oper- I IOO readily understoodthat a tubular web will be produced with longitudinal lines or wales oftuck-stitches formed therein by the series of needles b.

If dial-needles are employed, they will be used instead of the needlesa, and operate in the same manner at both yarn-feeds.

In order to change from tuck-stitch knitting to plain knitting on theneedles I) at the yarn-feed 2, whenever it maybe desired to do so, wemake the cam c for raising the needles at this point adjustablevertically-that is, we construct said cam so that it may be raised fromwhat we term its normal position to the position indicated by dottedlines in Fig. 5 to a point sufficiently high to raise the needles b aswell as the needles a, so that the old loops will pass below the latchesand be cast off when the needles have caught the yarn to form new loops,and are drawn down with such loops in their hooks. We accomplish theraising and lowering of cam 0 automatically at predetermined intervalswith mechanism which we will now proceed to describe.

d designates a pin extending through a vertical slot 6, formed incam-cylinder .B, said pin being attached at its inner end to cam c andconnected at its .outer end with the lower end of a link f, extending upthrough a slot formed in a bracket g, attached to the cam-cylinder B.

h designates a slide arranged to operate horizontally on bracket g andextended through a slot Z, formed in the part of the link f ex tendingabove the bracket g, as shown in Fig. 4. Slide It has its upper surfaceformed in two planes, the plane 4 being higher than the plane 5, with aninclined surface 6 connecting the two. When link f is sustained on thelower surface 5 of slide h, as shown in full lines in Fig. 4:, cam 0will be in its normal or lower position, as represented in full lines inFigs. 4 and 5. When, however, the slide h is moved inward toward thecam-cylinder, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, so that link f will besustained upon the higher surface 4 of slide h, cam 0 will becorrespondingly raised, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5, with theeffect of raising the needles, so as to make those having long latches,as well as those having short latches, perform plain knitting, ashereinbefore explained.

A pin j from slide h projects down through a slot 70, formed in bracketg, the end of arm 1 of a bell-crank lever fulcrumed at m on a bracket nbearing lightly against the forward side of said pin j, and a spring y,connected wit h the short arm 2) of said bell-crank lever and with thecam-cylinder, serving to keep arm Z and pin j in the relationship shownand explained.

wheel rotates to be brought under the foot of a vertically-movable rod25, sustained in suitable bearings of a bracket a, supported by anysuitable stationary part of the machine or its frame.

11 designates an inclined cam secured to the upper end of rod tandoperating through a slot formed in bracket it against the outer end of aslide 11;, provided on its inner end with a cam 00, adapted, when theslide to is moved inward a short distance, to have pin of slide hbrought in contact therewith in the revolution of cam-cylinder B, andwhen said slide w and cam 03 are moved in still farther to have said camstruck by arm 19 of the bellcrank lever after having been struck by pinj. The outer end of slidew is held back in contact with the inclinedface of cam u on rod 23 by means of a spring 0, so that as said rod andcam are raised the slide w will be moved inward, and when they arelowered, as they will be by their own gravity when left free, spring 0will move slide an outward.

WVhen cam 00 is so positioned as to have pin 7' strike it in therevolution of the cam-cylinder, and thus move slide it inwardsufficiently far to have the link f sustained on the higher surface 4 ofsaid latter slide, the cam 0 will be raised, as before described, andthis will occur when one of the low lugs or swells s of pattern-chain ris brought under the foot of rod t, and when slide 10 and its cam m aremoved inward still farther by a high lug or swells, passing under thefoot of rod 25, so that as arm 19 of the bell-crank lever will strikesaid cam 00 in the further revolution of the cam-cylinder, saidbell-crank lever willbe turned on its fulcrum so as to have arm Zoperate on pinj. of slide h and move said slide outward to the full-lineposition, Fig. 4, and so permit cam c to fall. It is to be understoodthat after arm 19 strikes cam 00 the rod i will pass off from cam-swells of the pattern-chain, permitting said rod to fall and slide to to moveoutwardly.

Sprocketwheel q may be operated in the manner and by the means shown anddescribed in United States Letters Patent No. 347,505, dated August 17,1886, or by any other known or suitable means, such means forming nopart of our present invention.

If the needles in the needle-cylinder should be so arranged that everythird needle should be a long-latch needle, and the cam 0 should bemaintained in its depressed or full-line position, a web would beproduced in which each third wale would be knit in tuck-stitch, and withthis arrangement if a colored yarn should be delivered ito the needlesby yarnfeed 3 and a white yarn by yarn-feed 2 a web would be produced inwhich the wale formed by the tuck-stitch needles would appear on theface as a colored vertical stripe, and those wales formed by the otherneedles would appear as mixed vertical stripes. If cam c, with thisarrangement and supply of yarn, should be raised, a fabric would beproduced with fine transverse or horizontal stripes, each course ofloops forming a stripe.

By lowering cam c and knitting one or more courses and then raising saidcam, with the needles arranged as before explained, and knitting a likenumber of courses, a fabric would be produced having spots knit intuck-stitch.

By arranging long-latch needles in the successive grooves in one half ofthe circumference of the needle-cylinder and short-latch needles in theother half, and lowering cam c, a tubular web will be produced, one halfof which will be knit in tuck-stitch and the other half in plain stitch.

Other patterns may be knit, as is obvious, by a different arrangement ofthe needles and by a varying operation of knitting-cam 0.

Changes may be made in the form and arrangement of parts constitutingour inven tion without departing from the nature or spirit of theimprovements. For example, the dial may be provided withneedle-operating cams similar to those in the cam-cylinder, and thedial-needles may have long and short latches, so that tuck-work may beproduced thereby, the same as by the cylinder-needles, or at the sametime or in conjunction therewith.

What we claim as our invention is 1. A needle-cylinder equipped with twosets or series of needles, one set having long latches and the other sethaving short'latches, combined with a revoluble cam-cylinder providedwith a vertically'adjustable knitting- .cam c, a vertical link attachedto and extending upward from said cam, a cam-piece for moving said linkvertically, and a yarn-feed, all as set forth.

2. A needle-cylinder equipped with two sets or series of needles, oneset having long latches and the other set having short latches, combinedwith a revoluble cam-cylinder having two knitting-cams or sets of cams,one of said cams having a vertical link attached to and extending upwardtherefrom, a campiece for moving said link vertically, and a yarn-feed,all as set forth.

3. A needle-cylinder and its needles, combined with a revolublecam-cylinder provided, with a slot, a cam c in said cylinder, a pinextended through said slot and connected with said cam, a link connectedwith said pin and provided with a slot, a bracket connected with saidcam-cylinder, and a slide provided with surfaces 4 5 in different planesand an inclined surface 6, said slide being supported on said bracketand extended through the slot in said link, whereby by moving the slidethe link and cam may be raised or lowered, as set forth.

I11 testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses, this th day of August, A. D.1888.

ALBERT E. SANBORN. OSCAR L. MERRO'VV.

\Vitnesses:

S. S. JEWETT, S. O. FRYE.

